Monthly Archives: November 2015

Indulge in delicious layers of tortilla, beef, and cheese in this super easy taco bake. Change it up and make it your way by adding any taco toppings you want! For me, I prefer lots and lots of cheese!

Brown ground beef. Make sure that you break it into small pieces as it browns. To keep it somewhat healthier, drain access grease. ( I pour beef right into a small strainer and run it under hot water to rinse it of grease as well)

Step Two:

Add your taco seasoning of choice and prepare according to directions on the packet.

Step Three:

Once taco meat is prepared, add 3/4 cup cheese sauce to the pan. Stir until all meat is coated with the cheese.

Step Four:

Heat refried beans in a sauce pan over medium heat until warmed through.

Step Five:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a round, 8 inch baking pan (or if you’re me, pie pan) place a tortilla in the bottom of the pan. (Depending on your pan you may want to apply some nonstick cooking spray or butter to the bottom of the pan)

Step Six:

Begin layering. Add about 1/3 of ground beef and cheese mixture on top of the first tortilla. (if you are choosing to add other fillings such as tomato, onion, etc. add 1/3 of them as well). Top with 1/3 of your shredded cheese.

Step Seven:

Cover first layer with a second tortilla. Spread 1/2 of the refried beans onto the tortilla. Again top with 1/3 beef and cheese mixture and 1/3 shredded cheese. Repeat process for the third and final layer.

Step Eight:

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until heated through. (You’ll want the cheese to be melted!)

If you are looking for a rich, spicy, comfort food full of bacon, THIS is the dish for you! Mac and cheese made from scratch, full of delicious cheese and bacon-y goodness. With just enough jalapeno to add the perfect kick. Get ready to indulge in a new favorite!

For this recipe you will need:

1 lb macaroni (I used elbow)

10 slices of bacon

1/2 cup white onions, diced

1/2 cup green peppers, diced

1/2 cup red or orange bell pepper, diced

2 jalapenos, seeded and diced

8 ounces shredded cheddar cheese

3/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack Cheese

5 slices of American Cheese

1/2 cup bread crumbs

salt and pepper to taste

Step One:

Preheat a nonstick pan on medium-high heat. Place bacon strips down on pan, be careful not to get hit with the grease! You want your bacon to be nice and crisp, but not burned. I recommend cooking it for about two minutes on one side, and then flipping it until it reaches desired crisp-ness. (Remember, you will be crumbling this!) Reserve about 2 tablespoons of the grease.

Step Two:

Cook pasta according to box directions. I usually cook my pasta about a minute less than you should to keep that al dente texture. While pasta cooks, crumble the bacon. It should be crisp enough that you can do this with your hands.

Step 3:

Heat reserved bacon grease in a pan, Saute onion, peppers, and jalapeno in grease for 3-5 minutes, just enough to heat them while keeping their crispness.

Step 4:

In a large sauce pan, heat heavy cream until simmering. Add all the cheese slowly, and stir until thoroughly melted. I added the shredded cheese, then once that was melted added the american cheese slices one by one.

Step 5:

Combine pasta, vegetables, and most of the bacon into the cheese sauce. (Keep some of the crumbled bacon to top the meal off). Stir until all pasta is covered in cheese sauce. If you want to add salt and pepper, now would be the time.

Step 6:

Pour entire mixture into an 8X8 glass bowl. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and top mac and cheese with a handful of bread crumbs. Bake for 15 minutes, top with the rest of the crumbled bacon and some fresh cut peppers, and enjoy!

Did you try this recipe? Want to see more like this? Leave us a comment, or tweet me @chelseakreiner !

In celebration of the Black Ops 3 release I decided to make Trevor his own Black Ops 3 themed cake. Here’s how:

For this recipe you will need:

1 box of cake mix

1 tub chocolate frosting

1 tub vanilla frosting

orange and blue food coloring

Step One:

Bake cake according to box.

Step Two:

While cake is cooling, it’s time to color frosting. For this cake we needed black and orange. To get the black effect I added blue food coloring to chocolate frosting and mixed well. For orange I added neon orange food coloring to vanilla frosting. Make sure you blend the coloring evenly into the frosting to prevent the marbled look.

Step Three:

Once cake has cooled. Evenly spread chocolate frosting over entire cake. I used a spatula to ensure a smooth even finish.

.Step Four:

Use a toothpick or small knife to outline your design. In this case, the Black Ops 3 logo.

It’s okay if its a little rough. We are going to cover this with our orange frosting!

Step Five:

Using kitchen scissors, cut a very small hole in one corner of a plastic sandwich bag. Fill bag with desired frosting.

Step Six:

Carefully squeeze colored frosting out onto the outline you made in the chocolate frosting.

Step Seven:

Once you outline the design you may want to go over it once more to give it a thicker, more vibrant look. Serve and enjoy!

Did you try this recipe? Want to see more like this? Leave a comment below!

I love to bake, and I am always on the hunt for cheap easy sweets. As a child I used to make these cookies in chocolate form. One day I decided to try with lemon instead and was instantly hooked. These are Trevor’s favorite and with him in the house the whole batch will be gone by morning! Enjoy!

For this recipe you will need:

1 box of lemon cake mix

1 8oz tub of cool whip (off brand works too!)

1 egg

small bowl of confectioners sugar

Step One:

In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, egg, and cool whip. (I like to mix the egg in prior to the cool whip to make sure it is good and evenly mixed)

The mixture will be very clumpy and not very cohesive at first, KEEP STIRRING

Step Two:

Form balls of dough (about 1 tablespoon full) and roll in the powdered sugar.

Step Three:

Place evenly on a nonstick baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Cookies should be a little golden around the edges. Allow to cool before removing from baking sheet.

As much as your dogs may beg, these cookies are for humans only!

Did you try this recipe? Want to see more like this? Leave a comment below!

Trevor and I love breakfast! Honestly, I think we would eat breakfast for every meal if we could. Therefore I try to keep our breakfasts interesting and tasty. Trevor loves bell peppers, and sunny side up eggs so this one just makes sense!

For this recipe you will need:

One large bell pepper (I used orange because thats what we had in the fridge)

4 large eggs

Butter (about a tablespoon full)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Step One:

Slice bell pepper in 4 sections, remove seeds. (I slice the top off the pepper and then cut it into 4 even segments. Make sure they stay together so the egg does not run out of the pepper!)

Step Two:

Melt butter in a nonstick pan on medium/high.

Step Three:

Place peppers in the pan. Crack your egg in a glass and then pour the egg into a pepper. Make sure that you get the glass very close to the pan and pour your egg slowly, or else the yolk will break and the egg may run out of the pepper.

You want your eggs to look like this

NOT LIKE THIS!

Step Four:

Cook eggs on medium high heat for about two minutes. Reduce heat and cover, allowing to cook for another 2-3 minutes, or until desired firmness is reached. Add salt and pepper as desired.

Serve with bacon and a side of toast!

Did you try this recipe? Want to see more like this? Leave a comment below!

(If you are not a fan of a lot of spice, omit Cayenne Pepper and Cumin for a milder taste)

Step One:

Separate seeds from pumpkin. We scooped our pumpkins out with spoons and put all the seeds in a tupperware container.

Step Two:

Use a strainer to rinse seeds of all left over pumpkin residue. Make sure your strainer is small enough that seeds won’t slip out!

Step Three:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Step Four:

While the oven preheats, bring a pot of salted water to boil. Do not add seeds until water is at a rolling boil.

Step Five:

Add seeds to boiling water. Allow to boil 8-10 minutes. Then drain seeds in strainer. (Make sure you have rinsed all the left over pumpkin out of the strainer prior to draining seeds)

Step Six:

Dry seeds on a clean towel, or paper towel. (If using a paper towel, keep in mind that the seeds will stick. I spent about ten minutes picking the dried seeds off of the paper!)

Step Seven:

In a separate bowl mix together olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, cumin and your desired amount of salt. We like our pumpkin seeds pretty salty so I added 2 teaspoons. It will not look like enough mixture to cover all your pumpkin seeds, but believe me it is plenty!

Step Eight:

Add seeds to mixture and toss to coat. I used a spoon to ensure that all the seeds were evenly covered.

Step Nine:

Spread seasoned pumpkin seeds evenly on a nonstick baking sheet. Make sure seeds are not sitting on top of one another to avoid over and under cooking.

Step Ten:

Bake seeds at 350 degrees until slightly browned and crispy. 15-20 minutes should do the trick! I turned my pan around about 10 minutes in to make sure they cooked evenly. Allow to cool, and enjoy!

Did you try this recipe? Want to see more like this? Leave a comment below!